1. Technical Field
This invention relates, generally, to methods for stopping viral and bacterial growth in air conditioning systems. More particularly, it relates to a method whereby air-contacting surfaces of an air-conditioning system are covered with a material inhospitable to such microorganisms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Legionnaires' disease and other ailments have been traced to microorganisms that live and reproduce in air conditioning systems. The inside of an air conditioning duct is particularly hospitable to the growth of microorganisms that grow well in dark, moist environments with large surface areas upon which to multiply. When the inside of a duct becomes dirty, the surface area available as a breeding ground for small life forms increases dramatically, and their numbers explode until they become a threat to human health.
Accordingly, inventors have devised a number of ways to clean the interior walls of airconditioning ducts in an effort to remove harmful life forms therefrom. Numerous vacuum brushes have been developed, for example, that facilitate removal of dust particles and the like from the inside of ducts to thereby decrease the surface area upon which microorganisms live.
However, it has been noted that the harmful life forms return even after the ducts have been laboriously cleaned. This is because dust and other surface area-increasing debris rapidly accumulate in the ducts and the life forms that survived the cleaning again multiply.
Some cleaning companies provide clean ductwork simply by removing the old, dirty ductwork and replacing it with clean, new ductwork. This is a very expensive, short term solution to the problem because it is just a matter of time until the harmful microorganisms again enter the system and multiply.
There is a need, then, for a cleaning method that has a permanent effect, but the knowledge heretofore accumulated neither teaches nor suggests what the steps of such a method might be.